MURDOCH_(8)

I still think that all we need to win the title is to go through a season without recieving massive massive injuries.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7403550.stm I was waiting for the subject to come up but no one has got around to it (I think). Barcelona have recently said they would allow Deco to leave in the summer and the player himself has said, "I will almost certainly go to England or Italy." Seeing as our club is screaming out for a playmaker and that one of the best in the buisness has become available surely we should make a move? I have always been a fan of Deco and the range of passing and vision he brings to a team. Not the youngest at 30 but still a fantastic player. Would anyone else be up for it?

Sheva did play alongside Drogba in a 442, as i said he did exactly the same as Anelka does now, drifting wide. Sheva is a great scorer, so is Anelka but they have to get into the box in order to do that. Sheva should not get the ball when standing still, only when on the run geting behind the defence. Part of Shevas problems in Chelsea is not getting the passes he needs from our mf, at Milan he had Pirlo and Kaka delievering the perfect passes. That is one of the exact reasons why Shevchenko and Anelka havent exactly fitted in well. Their main strength IMO is their off the ball running abilities and everytime I watch a game with them I always see them make really good, intelligent runs that nine times out of ten fail to be spotted because our midfield can't pick out they type of runs and lack the cute pass as I call it. I think with different type of players Shevchenko could have a really decent season, not back to his best but a really productive season where he shows he still is a player. Is his time up? Who knows? With Anelka he also needs these types of passes, and would do well with a playmaker but he has to get back to making the right runs that he made at Bolton, straight through the middle and looking for a goal everytime, instead of the pointless drifting into positions where he is a hinderence to the team and not a real goal threat.

Out of Mikel, Ashley Cole, JT, Ballack and Essien I decided to go for Ballack, beautiful goal and nerves of steal for the penalty but this was actualy the hardest MOTM all season.

If we are reliant on SWP to win the match then we really are in the sh*t. I didn't say to win the match but having SWP on would help keep a more attacking mentality and he is probably the only natural winger we have, even though he is piss poor at it... But I think having SWP having a go at Man Utd would be better than having someone like Malouda getting it out wide and passing back.

What did Phil Thompson shout btw? Sounds like "Penguin!!!" to me

I must not understand the whole advantage rule because no one ever seems to think the same as me in this incident. The way I see it is... The referee didn't call for a penalty because he played advantage. The advantage was that Garcia was running in on goal and an empty net. So when Garcia kicks the ball towards the net is that not the advantage gone? Regardless whether or not the defender gets back to clear? He got an advantage and never took it so therfore there can not be a penalty if it didn't cross the line. I saw somewhere in Europe that a player was running through on the goalkeeper and was knocked to the ground by the goalkeeper but another player was running through and the referee played advantage, but the player hit the post and was cleared and the game went on. Why did the referee say he would have gave a penalty if the ball hadn't (Which it has been proven, it didn't) of crossed the line? He has played the advantage rule and Garcia has been given an advantage. End of story. So are we not right to feel aggrieved the we were unfairly denied a chance to go through to the Champions League final for the first time ever when it is a fact the ball didn't cross the line? Of Course we are.

GK - Cech RB - Essien CB - Riccy CB - JT LB - Cole CM - Mikel CM - Ballack CM - Lamps RW - SWP ST - Drogba LW - Kalou Joe Cole has to be dropped as he has been really poor recently, with the exception of the 45mins against Wigan. I think Malouda will be saved for the Liverpool game so Kalou will and should come in. SWP because we need to attack and with him and Kalou on the wings that is exactly what they are going to do, they are not going to play a square pass or play keep ball they are going to try and take as many men on as they can and force the game which is what we need to do. I would like to see Essien in midfield but Ferguson will no doubt put Ronaldo down the left as Ashley Cole has him in his pocket everytime so Essien needs to take care of him. We have been talking about this game for so long now that we can't afford to forget about it because we scrapped a good result against Liverpool, we need to win this game and Liverpool has to be put on hold and give everything for this one, the League is still winable so lets try and win it!

If we lose our unbeaten home record this season I won't be able to take it.

Yupp f**k off, f**k off, f**k off, f**k off !!!!!

Agreed mate thats why I think midtable, but a relegation scrap? Come on if Wigan can come up and push for europe why can't two far better teams do the same? Im not saying they would push for europe though but I do think they would be a strong midtable team. You can tell Im excited for tonights game, I can't get Wigan out of my head

Don't think this is ever likely to happen because as it has been said they would have to start at the bottom and work their way up and even though they would win promotion after promotion they would be crippled financialy. If they were in the premiership right now there is no way they would be stuggling for relegation, they compete against the best teams in europe and do well enough, they could easily handle the likes of Wigan but it would be a massive step up from the SPL but I believe they could easily be a strong mid table team and once they can attract bigger players I could see them breaking the big three.

Essien for me. Anelka also good

First of all... Losing Clarke would cause a riot and everyone would be totally against Grant, not because it was all and totally his fault but because it happened under him. Steve Clarke is a legend amongst fans and fellow professionals and is probably my favourite person at Chelsea and many fans will agree he is their favourite too. If he was to move because he fully wanted to further his career in a managerial sense then we would totally understand but to leave because he is unhappy is totally unacceptable, the man has given so much to this club, he lives and breaths Chelsea. He is more to the club than the current managerial staff and should stay longer than they ever thought they could. This is yet another example of Grants incompetence, there is even disharmoney among his two closest collegues along with the rest of the squad and after reading this and assuming that it is accurate I believe this man is tearing our club apart. He is by no means a bad guy and the board should take most of the blame but he isn't good enough, not qualified, has no managerial quailtys that we have seen, can't inspire the players or even unite his staff, his signings haven't exactly been brilliant and tactically he is easily outfoxed. He does himself no favours what so ever by continuelly plugging this myth that we are playing more attacking football. It is a blatant lie. We do play the same tactics as Jose but I even admit we are far different. We don't have the tactical prowess of Mourinho, the run through a wall mentality and awesome team spirit or even the fearfactor we had under him which quite frankly depresses me, even in the old days we had teams thinking, "Oh Chelsea, good team on their day, not an easy match by any strech of the imagination". Now we have, "Oh Chelsea, we could get a result here you know". To real fans that hurts deep down. We don't seem to be respected by anyone and it's not because of the football we play or the antics of some of our players its because we were on the verge of greatness and we fuc ked it up all by ourselves. I am a Chelsea fan in pain, I support my teamthrough thick and thin but I don't in anyway support the manager, he isn't good enough simple as that. Not a bad person, a bad manager. The club needs to start afresh in the summer, new manager, new players and it will take us at least 3 years, I predict more to get back to the stage we were at under Jose, never mind move forward as a club as we threatened to do not so long ago.

----------Cudicini---------- Essien--Carvalho--Terry--Cole ----------Mikel---------- -----Lampard-Ballack----- Kalou-----------------Cole ----------Anelka---------- Subs:Hilario,Alex,Makalele,SWP,Drogba Makalele needs rested, and I feel Mikel plays the defensive role far better than Essien and I don't trust any of our right backs so I would play him there. Malouda is out for obvious reasons, so Kalou back in, Cole keeps his place because he is our best option even though he is out of form. Drogba's selfishness means he is dropped and it's about time Anelka got his chance either with Drogba or without him, he deserves it because he is a team player and is quality, I like his attitude also. City are not on the best of form so many people will be calling this an easy game but we have been terrible over the last two months with one or two exceptions so City will be confident of getting a result and will be fired up because of the result earlier in the season so I'm not totally confident for this game but I think we can do just about enough, which is all that is needed at this stage in the season.

Would have voted Essien but I voted Ashley Cole in the end, can't remember why... But I had a valid reason at the time!

Shevchenko is mine Don't trust the game!

Thought Essien had a good game at right back btw

Why can't Avram Grant understand that Anelka should not be played on the wing? Even as a substitute. Waste of space and talent and especialy as we were chasing a goal. We didn't need to chase for a goal, because 2-1 isn't that bad a result but no he wanted another goal which is fair enough, but repeating the same mistake again and again and again...

I've heard people praising him, but nothing over the top so far. Is it because it's Eredivisie, or why is it that you think a player that has scored 32 goals in 36 matches(in all competitions this season) doesn't deserve to be praised? Ofcourse stats aren't everything, but I'd still be interested to hear some more detailed opinions about why you think he's so massively overrated. He's a striker and he's scoring for fun for both club and country, so I think at least some of the praise he's getting is well justified. I was in a bit of a rush earlier or I would have wrote more By all means praise him, but the amount of praise he recieves, like he is an amazing talent and who is worthy of a first team slot at a club like ours (I rate us as one of the top clubs in europe), as if he is going to push us forward or even replace Drogba? He is a good player but no more than that, I do not watch him every week but I do see about two Ajax games a month and what I see is a good player in an average league. Many harp on about his goal scoring record but I ask you to look at Afonso Alves, his record is far better and he isn't exactly setting the world alight is he? I'm not saying that everyone from the Eredivisie who scores goals should be discounted as a good player and put it down to the league I'm saying to put to much emphisis on his scoring record. His all round play is not the best, he is a good finisher with a good scoring instinct, good off the ball and can poach goals. He is not fast nor really strong, average in the air. He gets alot of credit for his work rate but that to me is not a skill, something to be admired yes but that doesnt make a world class player that he is being billed as being. He is hard working and scores goals, a good player, not this great player that I keep hearing about. I am not against him coming to Chelsea as I believe he could do a good job, nothing brilliant though and I think there are lots of better options out there. All this is of course my opinion only

One of the most overrated players on the planet!

Had the common sense to mute it

John Terry for me.

The worst man of the park was Belletti by a mile, Downing had him beaten every single time. Drogba I thought was poor, his touch was horrible today and kept missed some really good chances. Essien had a decent game IMO.

I would pick Essien at right back everytime. Everyone keeps going on about how good Paulo is defensively, but hes not good defensively, he is just better than Belletti. Belletti is good going forward we all know that but he is not good enough on the defensive side fo his game for a right back(in defense). Essien is strong int he tackle, fast, bombs forward and gives 100%. Fair enough he doesnt have enough defensive awareness and his positioning is sloppy but he still offers more than the other two. I wouldnt play him in midfield because he doesnt offer much as an attacking threat and with Maka playing in the team right now we can't afford to go into games with such defense minded players.